Goodbye
by Star-Crossed Rose
Summary: Leo knows something about locks and doors. If the Doors of Death have to be closed from both sides, someone will have to stay in Tartarus. Leo's had plenty of time to think about this, and he knows he's a seventh wheel. Rick Riordan may be hinting at this, though we all hope it won't happen. UPDATED! The second chapter is happier (and longer).
1. Goodbye

**Before, you begin, I'm sorry. This is one of my worst fears for Heroes of Olympus, and I know several fans are equally afraid.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. Rick Riordan does, and I hope he never uses this idea.  
**

Percy leapt through the slowly closing gate. "Come on!" he called to Annabeth. She took a step forward, but hit an invisible barrier. Percy stepped back into Tartarus and pushed her out. He tried to follow, but this time the invisible barrier affected him.

Leo stepped into Tartarus and pushed Percy out. "It needs to be closed on both sides. That means someone stays. It might as well be me."

"Leo, no!" Hazel said. Her face was paling and her eyes were filling with tears.

Leo smiled sadly. "Sorry, Hazel. Frank needs you. Take care of him." He touched his fingers to his lips, then touched Hazel's cheek- the best he could give her with the closing doors. Behind him, monsters started inching forward, their fear of the most powerful demigods overcome with the fear that everything they'd worked for would be gone if they didn't get through those doors. Everyone except Hazel and Leo could hear the deadly growls. "I promised you wouldn't die again- I guess I get the oath to keep with a final breath. At least there isn't a prophecy about anyone else dying now."

The doors were only an inch apart. Leo turned to confront the monsters. Hazel finally managed to speak, somehow managing not to sob. "Leo-" He turned. "Goodbye." Leo saw one tear slide down her cheek before the doors closed.

**Please review. I highly appreciate constructive criticism.**


	2. Aftermath & Resolution

**Hello everyone! I know this story was marked complete, but I had a request to show everyone's reactions, and I listen to requests. I wrote this a long time ago when I was just writing all my random, unconnected ideas and trying to put them in one will include reactions and random bonding between characters I don't feel have interacted enough in the books. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series.**

Hazel stood openmouthed staring at the closed doors. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, but her brain could hardly process what had just happened.

"Hazel," someone said. Someone was behind her, shaking her shoulder. She managed to turn her head and saw that it was Frank.

She hugged him fiercely, and he held her as she cried. It seemed strange that she was mourning Leo and getting comfort from Frank. Shouldn't those be opposites? But as her tears soaked Frank's shirt, she realized that he was a great friend to her, but only that. She could be hugging Percy, Jason, or Nico right now. It wouldn't matter to her and Piper and Annabeth would know she was only treating them as friends and not get jealous.

But how to tell Frank that? He didn't deserve her breaking up with him. And Leo had told her to take care of him. All of a sudden, it was just too much. She turned away from Frank and raced to her cabin, slammed the door, and collapsed on the bed.

There was a package on her pillow. She picked it up. It said, _From Leo_. Hazel burst out crying again. She held the package to her for a few minutes, trying to get herself under control. It smelled faintly of smoke and engine grease- like Leo.

She finally managed to open it. It was a delicate 14-karat gold necklace with a small fire pendant. She managed with shaking fingers to put it on. It was designed so it could rest between her collarbones, or to be longer so it could hide under her shirt. She started crying again. How long had Leo known he would be staying in Tartarus? She had a feeling he had spent a lot of time on the necklace. It matched her eyes exactly. The pendant was carved intricately, with minute detail.

She tucked it under her shirt and returned to the bed, stunned. She noticed a note that had been beneath the necklace.

_Hazel,_

_I'm sorry. Someone has to stay in Tartarus, and I have a feeling it'll be me. But please don't let your second life go by wishing things had been different. Believe me, I know what I'm doing._

_On the back side of this note is a list of little things I put on the Argo II no one knows about. Again, I'm sorry. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out._

Hazel paused. The first time she had heard that from a holographic scroll, she saw only Sammy. She had thought she was attracted to Leo because she had liked Sammy. Now, she saw they were completely different people, and she still loved Leo. This wasn't a case of mistaken identity.

Hazel turned over the note. The other side had a very long list- some of the features were useful, some were for pranks, some were just if she was bored. She found herself giggling. She stopped abruptly. She realized that she had never heard anyone thank Leo for building the ship. He had just spent 6 months in a bunker, usually alone, getting very little sleep while Piper and Jason played Capture the Flag and enjoyed the other camp activities. Whenever they started recounting camp adventures or games, Leo stayed out of the conversation.

At dinner, everyone seemed surprised to see Hazel. She didn't come in late, but everyone else was early. No one mentioned Leo.

Dinner was completely silent. Nico seemed vaguely unsettled, like he was trying to remember something, but said nothing. Hazel couldn't blame him. There was a reason she was worried about Leo- if he was still alive.

_Stop that_, she told herself firmly. _I didn't feel his death, so he is probably still alive_.

After dinner, Hazel left immediately, but she didn't go to her cabin. She went to the engine room to play with the Easter eggs Leo had told her about. After turning the steering wheel hot pink, she casually strolled on deck. Annabeth looked extremely confused. She ran back to the engine room and changed the settings so the wheel turned white with black letters: _Hello, Annabeth_.

She poked her head on deck again. Annabeth stared at it in disbelief, then yelled, "PERCY!"

Hazel hurriedly pulled her head back and started returning to the engine room. Unfortunately she ran into Percy.

He looked confused and worried. "Did you hear Annabeth- do you know-?"

"It was me, don't tell her," Hazel gasped, hurrying to the engine room. Percy looked even more confused, but he continued to Annabeth.

Hazel quickly activated a camera and displayed it on the largest monitor. She changed the wheel writing so underneath _Hello, Annabeth_ it also said _Hi, Percy_.

She watched Percy's face as he figured out what Hazel had done, and collapsed laughing when Annabeth knew Percy knew why it was happening and who was doing it. Percy was trying hard to not tell her, but Hazel knew he wouldn't be able to hold out long.

She returned the steering wheel to normal, turned off the camera, and ran to her cabin. She suddenly had nothing to do, and what remained of her laugh turned hysterical. Hazel managed to stop, but knew she couldn't hold out for long. She needed to keep busy, and do so in a way that reminded her of Leo. Strange... she was crying over him, but needed to keep him in her head. So... Morse code. Leo knew Morse code. She was about to find it in one of the books from her room's library when someone knocked on her door. "Come in," she called.

It was Percy. "I don't suppose you want to explain how to change the steering wheel?"

Hazel tried not to laugh (wow, her feelings changed fast). "I think I'll keep the technicalities secret. But I think Annabeth's gonna figure it out. I'll leave a note on it, confessing."

Percy laughed. "Good. But congratulations on confusing her. It's hard to do."

Hazel smiled. "Thanks."

Percy's attention shifted to the book on her lap. "Is that Morse code?" He seemed surprised.

"Yeah," Hazel said. Percy didn't know that Leo knew Morse code, did he?

"You're keeping busy," he observed. "Annabeth's staring at her laptop, Piper's pacing, Frank's playing darts with his arrows, Jason's staring at the clouds, and Nico's napping."

Hazel pulled a face. "That's all they can think to do? I think I'll change a few more colors."

She headed determinedly to the engine room. Percy followed. At the door she turned. "This is top secret," she warned. "It should only be used for emergency boredom."

"Like this?"

"Exactly." Hazel led him to the small computer in the very back. She logged on with the password Leo had given her and turned all the doors hot pink. She didn't know why hot pink, it just seemed like an extreme, ugly, shocking color.

She then turned on a camera in the hall, showing all the now hot pink doors. Frank opened his and ran outside. Piper did the same. They talked frantically, gesturing at the doors. They got everyone except Nico out and went to find Jason. Percy turned to her with glee in his eyes. "Turn the color back before Jason sees!"

She grinned. This was way too much fun. As soon as everyone was out of the hallway, she made the doors normal. She watched them drag Jason in, who seemed extremely confused. But Hazel was watching Annabeth. Hazel could tell something had clicked, and Annabeth started marching toward the engine room with a determined expression.

Hazel looked at Percy. "Run." He did. She quickly typed a note, then got outside and walked past as if she had been walking upstairs from the bottom deck the whole time. She just barely made it. Annabeth came around the corner right before Hazel got there. When Annabeth saw Hazel, her eyes narrowed, but there was still that sympathetic look. Hazel knew that would change in two minutes when Annabeth found her confession.

Sure enough, from behind her there was a shout. Annabeth came barreling out of the room, straight at Hazel, who shrieked playfully and ran. Annabeth chased her all the way on deck, where they ran around the mast a few times before collapsing, giggling. Hazel was in a great mood. Leo was not letting her be sad.

"You realize that now everyone's gonna be messing with colors and stuff," Annabeth said.

Hazel shook her head. "I don't think so. Only I know the password." She then leapt up and ran to engine room so she could log off before Annabeth could think to change the password so she'd know it too.

Annabeth looked thoroughly exasperated. But she didn't look sympathetic, which was exactly what Hazel had been trying for.

That night, alone in her room, Hazel realized Leo had now spent a whole 12 hours in Tartarus. What kind of friend was she? Not laughing anymore, Hazel tried to brainstorm, but had no ideas. They couldn't open the Doors, and someone would have to stay anyway. There were no other ways out of Tartarus unless you were a monster, born to magically get out after reforming. Well, at least she hadn't wasted valuable time, just done as Leo wanted her to. She finally managed to get to sleep, but she woke up hungry around 1. She tiptoed toward the kitchen. Another door opened in front of her. Piper.

"You too?" Piper asked.

"I needed a midnight snack," Hazel confessed.

Piper nodded. They headed to the dining room together. It wasn't empty. Percy and Nico were already there.

Piper and Hazel looked critically at the snack they'd put together. "Cheese and crackers?" Piper accused.

"Seriously, if you're going to bother getting up, make a good snack," Hazel chided. She found some chili pepper while Piper microwaved them to make nachos. Hazel sprinkled her chili pepper, and they all dug in.

"So while we're here," Nico began, "I think we need to plan a prank on someone tomorrow." Hazel grinned. She liked where this was heading. Piper and Percy looked similarly excited.

"I vote Jason," Percy said.

Piper nodded in agreement. "I honestly don't know how he'd react."

Hazel laughed. "The last year, I've been hearing legends of all the times people have tried to prank him. Few have ever worked. This should be very interesting."

Nico nodded. "I don't have any ideas... But if anyone knows something about _hot pink doors_, I'm sure I could come up with something."

Hazel tried to keep her face neutral. Percy grinned. She shot him a warning look. He grinned wider.

"Percy, would you like to share something?" Piper asked dryly. Hazel could tell she wasn't trying to charmspeak, but her voice was naturally compelling.

"I know someone who might know," he mumbled.

"OK, fine, it was me," Hazel muttered. Piper laughed.

They were about to plan out the details when Jason walked in. Everyone froze, then burst out laughing.

"What?" Jason demanded, which just made everyone laugh harder. He seemed relieved to see Hazel laughing. She wished people could stop being so surprised she could have fun. She really enjoyed keeping Leo's spirit alive on the ship.

Their plans abruptly dissolved into small talk, and they shared the rest of the nachos with Jason. Eventually, they headed back to bed. Then a dove flew into her room with a note from Piper. Hazel wrote on it and sent it to Nico. They sent Piper's dove around until three in the morning and still didn't have a plan, but it was better than nightmares.

Before the sun came up, Hazel went up on deck and enjoyed the cool night air. It was a great temperature- she wasn't wearing a coat, but she felt fine. It was only when she noticed the frost on the rigging that she wondered about this. She concentrated. Hazel realized that warmth was emanating from a single point- the pendant. Wow. Leo was amazing. He'd done so much for her.

Just then, Nico joined her on deck, looking well-rested. Hazel guessed it was a child of Pluto- no, he was a child of _Hades_- thing. He always seemed pale, so one sleepless night didn't show on him. "I had an idea," he said.

She didn't need to ask what about. "And..."

"Dad has a sword that can summon beings out of Tartarus. I was trying to remember this yesterday, it just came to me this morning," Nico said quickly, as if afraid she would accuse him of not remembering on purpose. "Gods can't directly interfere, but if we asked..."

"We?" Hazel wanted to help Leo, but she couldn't go back to the Underworld. She had gotten lucky once, and wouldn't be released again... probably. She also just didn't want to go back to those negative memories.

"If he's in his Roman aspect, I doubt he'll listen to me. He cares about you, Hazel. You'll get out."

Hazel took a deep breath, then dug out a small whistle out of her pocket. She blew it, and it shattered. Then Mrs. O'Leary shadow-traveled on deck.

Hazel had never got the hang of shadow-traveling like Nico, but enjoyed it anyway. She and Mrs. O'Leary met Nico at the gates outside her father's palace. Leaving Mrs. O'Leary to go play with Cereberus, they entered together.

She couldn't tell what aspect her father was in, but it didn't matter. She let Nico make the request, and was pretty sure it was Hades by the way he listened. Hazel was surprised he wasn't completely schizophrenic because they were both there, but maybe his aspects were more similar than most. Even though there were differences between the aspects, he had to manage the same kingdom and stress in each.

Nico was given a large stack of paperwork. He took one look at it and handed the papers to Hazel. Rolling her eyes, she read a bit. She started filling things in, then paused. She was dyslexic (probably). Why was this so easy? Looking more closely, she saw it was in Latin. No wonder Nico had given them to her. But did that mean the god on the throne was Pluto?

At the moment, it didn't matter. She was so close to having Leo back. She finished the paperwork, then reflected on her note from Leo. Concentrating on the shapes of the words, not the words themselves, she realized his note was in Latin too. Hazel was once more amazed at the time he had put in for her.

She silently handed Pluto the finished paperwork, and he handed her his sword in return.

A smile tugged at her lips. She had laughed the previous day, thanks to Leo, but nothing could compare to Leo himself, and that was what she was about to get.

**Soo... like it? Remember, this came from a request. I won't bite you for asking! I hope you like the happier ending. I'm going to leave it here, but as mentioned before, I take requests. Please review!**


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